Against The Dying Of The Light: A Modded Career Playthrough

[ZWho63]

Hello! I'm pretty new to the forums, and this is my first real post: a modded career playthrough!

My aims are simple: to complete the tech tree and to explore every single planet and satellite in the Kerbolar System.

I have at least 50 mods, and I'm working on getting a full list of them up here, someday.

But all space programs need to start somewhere...

(Sorry my first real post was deleted, I tried to edit it but it then disappeared. A recreation will be up soon!)

(oh wait its back sorry)

Edited November 9, 2023 by ZWho63

[ZWho63]

AETHER I - STARTING SMALL

The Aether Program, as I would call it, is the first endeavor undertaken by the Kerbin Space Exploration Society, or KSES for short: it serves as a small atmospheric probe, with two sets of basic scientific experiments attached to a small Mite SRB: It's more like a firework that doesn't explore than a rocket.

The Aether I sits on a launch stand, preparing for takeoff

Takeoff!

The mission is hailed as a complete success, and KSES hopes to launch more probes to higher and higher altitudes, and hopefully, Kerbals into space...

Edited November 9, 2023 by ZWho63

[ZWho63]

PIERCING THE SKY: AETHER II, III, IIIA and IV

Unlike Aether I, getting to the upper atmosphere had its own problems: the original Aether I rocket couldn't get that high, peaking at 14 kilometers with its full science payload: KSES engineers went to the drawing board, and created the Aether II:

What they came up with was effectively two Aether I's stuck on top of one another (not a really good idea, but this was a relatively fresh program): the design was green-lit and set to launch...

...only for the rocket to veer off to the west and crash in the grasslands behind the KSC. All footage of the crash landing has unfortunately been destroyed, although the relatively intact booster lies at the crash site.

Annoyed by this failure, KSES again commisioned a design for their next upper atmospheric mission: the Aether III.

The subsuquent design used a more powerful complement of boosters, such as the 'Flea' SRB, the Aether III had high expectations placed on it: the first launch attempt quickly ended in the rocket flopping around on the launch pad, only being controlled after several minutes of burntime. Another attempt was made after said rocket was quickly refurbished and the staging fixed.

This second attempt got the booster off the ground...

...but only to an altitude of 15 kilometers, 3 off from the intended goal. Some science was scraped before power was lost on the probe, and it was left to descend into the oceans north of the KSC.

The success of Aether III convinced KSES that one more try was needed, and thus Aether IIIA was slated for a couple of days time... and was immediately scrubbed after the probe ran out of power during scientific tests on the pad. Batteries were hastily fitted onto the booster stage, and the launch was tried again, only to fail, again.

Back to the drawing board went the engineers, and armed with new research, the Aether IV was created, a revolutionary liquid fuelled design that took advantage of engine gimbal for stability.

(Although not seen in this image, Aether IV was spinning wildly out of control)

The launch of Aether IV was more stable than usual, and the rocket, well, rocketed up into the sky, obliterating altitude records  and passing the Karman Line in the process! With these new capabilities, KSES looks forward to sending a probe into orbit, or maybe... even a Kerbal?

 

[Kerbalsaurus]

Ay, nice job on breaking the Karman Line! Or should I say… Kerman Line. I’ve played PBC before, and I think, just to be safe, you should do a few more launches with the Aether IV before heading to orbit. Just to be on the safe side, ya know?

[TheSpaceDinos4037]

Seems really interesting so far, can't wait to see more!